Emma Amaize
11 October 2008
WHEN Dr. Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan became the Governor of Delta State, last year, he was accepted with a "let's us watch and see attitude" by some Ijaw militants, who thought that an Itsekiri man would continue to oppress and not accommodate them in the politics of the state.
But 16 months or more into his administration, many would say that perhaps, he has tried tremendously in managing militants and grievances in the state, and paving the way for security and peace, which is one of the three-point agenda of his government.
Investigations by Saturday Vanguard showed that the governor who is also from a riverine community understood the problems of the people and before he assumed office, met with leading activists from the state in groups and individually to forge a common front.
The bottom-line is that they are crying of underdevelopment and he, himself, is saying the same thing too, and the only way development can come is for peace to reign.
"Without peace, the government cannot do anything", he told them and "they have to lay down their arms for the government, investors and people of the state to move freely in the waterways of the state", he added.
He told them it was not enough for them to assure him that they would drop their arms; they have to assist his government in maintaining peace also in the waterways and also assist the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger-Delta and other security agents in their duties. The JTF has seen the alliance produce results but it does not want to publicly admit that militants, working at the behest of the state government were facilitating their operations.
A top operative of the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) in the state told Saturday Vanguard, last week, that "We were fascinated with the sincere and frank approach of Governor Uduaghan. It is what I will call a fruitful bargaining approach to the agitation.
"The truth is that he reached out to the stakeholders that are involved in the agitation in the state and it is giving him results. It is working very fine against the situation in Rivers State, where the governor feels he, alone owns the state and the others are not stakeholders. He cannot achieve result that way. There will continue to be crisis there until he mends his ways", he stated.
His words, "In Rivers state, we see the state government as a factor in the crisis because of Governor Amaechi's way of doing things. The governor himself is a participant in the crisis and so, it will be difficult for him to get the militants there to agree to give peace a chance the way Uduaghan has done in Delta", he said.
Saturday Vanguard learnt that one thing that has worked very well for Uduaghan also in his security and peace agenda was how he managed the delicate power play between the Ijaws and Itsekiris in the chairmanship of the three Warri local government areas, which is Warri South-West, Warri South and Warri North local government areas.
"I call it political balancing", an Ijaw leader asserted, adding, "It was not the usual handpicking of candidates that cannot deliver. The governor took time and the candidates that emerged were professionals that have the credential to bring development and peace to the areas and you can see that for the first time in the history of the state, the chairmen of the three Warri local governments are ahead in development."
Strategically, an Ijaw man that has tentacles with the activists was endorsed for the chairmanship of Warri South-West with headquarters at Ogbe-Ijoh. This used to be the most troublesome local government in the state before he assumed office and indeed, its major kingdom, Gbaramatu can fittingly be said to be the headquarters of the Niger-Delta struggle.
The accepted generalissimo of the N-Delta struggle and convener of the Ijaw Youths Leadership Forum (IYLF), Chief Government Ekpemupolo hails from Gbaramatu and has facilitated the peace process in the state since Uduaghan took charge.
At the national level, he is the accepted leader of the Niger-Delta agitation and that is why the leader of the Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and other leaders of the struggle had to assemble in his enclave in Delta state when the Vice President came calling, last year, to ask the Niger-Delta activists to join hands with the Federal Government in its process.
Former Governor of Bayelsa state, Chief Diepreye Alamiyeseigha who knew the role he played in the events that led to his negotiated release visited him after his release to thank him for his support. When the JTF accused some politicians, including governors of fraternizing and supporting militants in the Niger-Delta, he is the person the task force had in mind.
How Uduaghan achieved peace
The first structure Uduaghan put on ground to actualize his security and peace agenda is the Delta Waterways and Security Committee (DWSC), headed by a Niger-Delta activist, Mr. George Timinimi, who is also the Commissioner for Water Resources in the state. His appointment was tactical and his choice to man the ministry was also deliberate. He is an Ijaw man from Gbaramatu kingdom and if anybody is harassing government for its water projects in the creek, he has to go and sort the matter out.
He was in the struggle before some of the present-day actors and even though the jungle is a no man's land, the rat knows that the cat is its senior, which to the Christian, is to say that before Abraham, Jesus was. The specific charge to the committee is to advise government on how to stop kidnapping, bunkering and other criminal activities in the waterways, and intervene in all such cases to ensure peace in the state.
Delta Waterways' rescue mission
The DWSC, which is very much on ground in the creek communities, is peopled by youth leaders and other professionals who are very knowledgeable on the activities that transpire in the creeks. It is like a bargaining tool the governor has used to clip the wings of militants.
With their vantage positions of the members, they are able to sniff out information on militant attacks before they are carried out; they are able to ask questions and find out which militant group did what and what in the state; and can get information on their locations, their leaders and lots more. That was why the committee was able to locate the militant group that disarmed some soldiers at Olero Creek in the state, sometime ago, visited them and recovered the weapons snatched from soldiers and handed same back to the JTF.
The committee also secured the release of some two Indian workers that were kidnapped by militants at Sapele, soon after it was inaugurated from the den of the kidnappers without paying ransom, as well as Mr. Daniel Tishene, a staff of the Niger-Benue Transport Company (NBTC), who was kidnapped by militants at Ovwian in the state and whisked to Bayelsa state.
Presently, the DWSC is intervening and resolving conflicts that are likely to cause breach of peace between riverside communities and multinational oil firms operating in the state. It also smoothens security for companies operating in the creek and is involved in the titanic battle against crude oil thieves.
A member of the DWSC and the Federal Government Committee on Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Niger-Delta, Mr. Godwin Ebosa is the chairman of Warri North Local Government Area and his chairmanship of the area is also calculated. It is for him to use his experience as a peace crusader to settle the age-long rift between the Ijaws and Itsekiris in the area.
An Ijaw youth leader who contested the chairmanship of the council with him confided in Saturday Vanguard that "Ebosa is doing well", while some Itsekiri leaders have also hailed the development strides of the Ijaw-born chairman of Warri South-West council, Mr. George Ekpemupolo.
According to a top DWSC member, "The truth actually is that the governor tapped the right people and he is moving forward. The gains of involving the major activists in the DWSC overweigh the risk".
DESOPADEC - square peg in square hole
The other structure that is working like magic in the issue of security, peace and development in the state is the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC). When the governor dissolved the board of the commission and reconstituted on assumption of office, many thought he did not know what he was doing, but, the appointment of an Ijaw leader, who is well grounded in the struggle, Chief Wellington Okirika as the chairman has worked wonders.
In the words of a respected MEND leader in Delta state, "Chief Okirika is a man deep in the struggle; he is a grassroots man, appointing him as the chairman of the oil commission is like removing the wind from the sail of criminally-minded activists.
"One of the first things Okirika who has been in the struggle for development of oil communities before some of the today activists were born was to visit the known militant leader in the state, whose sphere of influence is the entire Niger-Delta and solicit his support for the activities of the commission", he added.
Chief Okirika himself told Saturday Vanguard in an earlier interview that he started that struggle years ago and there was nothing anybody could tell him that he did not know. So, he went to meet with the boys and tell them that the government has created an oil commission to bring to the oil communities the development they were fighting for.
He said he told them that it was not going to be the case of government throwing money at people begging for peace to develop the state, but, a case of them knowing that a commission, made up of indigenes of the oil communities like themselves, had been set up to manage 50 per cent of the 13 derivation fund accruing to the state for the development of the communities, and what they require from them, as a matter of urgency, is peace.
Several other meetings were held and thereafter, the MEND in Delta state issued a press statement, saying it was suspending all further hostilities in the state to enable the DESOPADEC to execute the laudable projects it has assured it would execute in the state if an atmosphere of peace was created.
Since then, the DESOPADEC has been doing its best and Chief Okrika has taken scores of foreign investors to the creek communities of the state to douse the negative impression that the people were hostile to investors. Some of the investors are partnering with the commission in its impressive bid to establish 10 modular refineries and a gas gathering plant in Delta state.
Aside the official security network of the DWSC, the commanding Niger-Delta activist whose base in Delta has also put his structure at the disposal of the Delta state government to rein in militants that engage in criminal activities.
Unofficial arrangement
A member of the group who spoke with Saturday Vanguard in Warri said that, "Before now, in 2005, we raided some sea pirates, arrested about 24 of them and handed them to the JTF. We did this because they were denting the struggle by embarking on criminal activities. The struggle is not about oil bunkering, sea piracy and all that, and even hostages were taken by us in the name of the struggle.
It was for a reason, to serve as a human shield following attacks on some Ijaw communities by security agents. We warned the pirates to stop their criminal activities severally and when they refused, we arrested and handed them over. So, the struggle is not the criminality that a lot of people think it is."
He said that those who arrested the pirates and handed them over to the JTF were still in the struggle when Uduaghan came on board and that same structure, which was utilized in 2005, was available for use in 2007 when he became governor.
"You will recall that there was an attack on the pipeline of an oil company shortly after Uduaghan took over, and because he contacted us on his mission for the state, and we pledged our cooperation, we sent out a team to get those that committed the act and we brought them to our camp for punishment.
You are also aware of the recent incident at the Batan and Chanomi creek areas. We went after the bunkerers, some of them were tied up here for some days and flogged before they were released and warned not to try such thing next time in Delta State", he added.
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I am surprised to hear that Gbanran people are in Delta State. When I was a Kid, my father took me around almost all Ijaw areas with his engine boat and told me that they (the Gbanrans)were my people. I am from Akassa at the tip Of Bayelsa State. What I am asking is, why are the Gbanrans in some state called Delta State? One more thing, why do some ishekiris and Urhobos answer Ijaw names if they are not our Children?